Algy Cluff

Algy Cluff was born in 1940. He served for six years in the Army in West Africa, Cyprus and Borneo. He was a Captain in the Grenadier Guards and the Guards Parachute Company and recently retired as Honorary Colonel of the 3rd Battalion of the Princess of Wales’s Royal Regiment.

A pioneer of North Sea oil exploration, he founded Cluff Oil in 1972. This led to the discovery of the Buchan Field. There followed thirty years of exploration in the gold industry in Africa and the discovery and development of gold mines in Zimbabwe, Ghana, Burkina Faso and Tanzania. He remains active in the oil business.

Algy was the proprietor of The Spectator for five years and its Chairman for a further twenty years. He was the proprietor of other magazines, including Apollo and the Literary Review.

He is married to Blondel and they have three sons: Harry, Philip and Charlie. He has published two books, Get On With It a memoir in 2016 and his second book Unsung Heroes and a Few Villains in 2018.

See Algy Cluff at

Share This

FEEDBACK FROM ATTENDEES

“Every session I attended was excellent and all probably in different ways. The standard was extremely high I thought – even though I had thought last year’s Festival could not be bettered for me!”
Festival Attendee

“Ruth Rosen’s talk was magical in every sense. Her reading of Keats poetry and letters certainly provided the ‘escapism’ from the realities of daily life as underlined by the Programme Director, Anthea Parker, in her Foreword to the Isle of Wight Literary Festival programme.”
Sue Hicks

FEEDBACK FROM PRESENTERS

“Just to thank you for a wonderful visit to the IOW! It was such a privilege to bring an autumnal Cuckoo to the Literary Festival. I had a lovely audience with some great questions and I really enjoyed the special atmosphere of the weekend.”
Nick Davies

“It is certainly one of the best I’ve been to, really friendly and efficient, with all the writers being made to feel special and welcome.”
Christopher Somerville

“I loved it! I think the festival was a great success and I have the advantage of being able to compare it to others. Nothing else has quite the camaraderie or the devoted audiences.”
Jane Thynne

Newsletter Sign up

Sign up to receive news and information about the Isle of Wight Literary Festival.